The heavy traffic plying on city roads reduces the speed of traffic and also causes safety risks, said a JNPT official

In a bid to reduce congestion on city roads, the country’s largest container port – the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Navi Mumbai – has demanded demarcated lanes on the proposed Virar-Alibaug multi-modal corridor for heavy vehicles.

The project is being executed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

A recent study by the port trust reveals that around 7,000 trucks ply on the roads daily from the area. Of these, the highest, 31% or 2,170 trucks travel to the Mumbai region, creating traffic on city roads.

It also states that the due to extensive traffic, the average speed of a truck travelling from JNPT towards Pune is reduced to 18.66kmph and from JNPT to Vadodara is 14kmph because of congestion on roads.

“The heavy traffic plying on city roads reduces the speed of traffic and also causes safety risks. Special lanes for heavy traffic will see reduction in pollution owing to faster truck movement,” a senior official from JNPT said.

The 126-km Virar-Alibaug multi-modal corridor will carry all the traffic from JNPT towards Navi Mumbai and Thane outside the city and reduce the congestion in the city, the project report states. MMRDA is in the process of finalising the detailed project report for the corridor.

Tenders for phase-1, which is a 98.5-km highway between Navghar and Balavali, are expected to be floated by June 2018.

However, the demand for a dedicated lane on the central median of the multi-modal corridor is not feasible as MMRDA has already proposed a 30-km metro line there. A senior official from MMRDA said, “We will definitely consider the demand for a dedicated lane as it seems important, even as per our consultant’s studies.”